› added 4 years ago

154

TIL JRR Tolkien began writing a sequel to Lord of the Rings called The New Shadow which he found so depressing that he abandoned it after 13 pages.

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yrpa TIL the series Police Squad was cancelled because “the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it,” which TV Guide magazine called “the most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series.”
4Xgwo TIL that Romans weaved asbestos fibers into a cloth-like material that was then sewn into tablecloths and napkins. These cloths were cleaned by throwing them into a blistering fire, from which they came out unharmed and whiter than when they went in.
MeoYV TIL that until 1902 the Okapi was thought to be a mythical creature, even being called the "African unicorn".
LkdWQ TIL about "naumachia", the Ancient Roman practice of filling a specialised coliseum/amphitheatre basin full of water and forcing convicts and PoWs to fight to the death in staged naval battles, complete with fully armed warships, for the Caesar's entertainment
P1AeZ TIL that zombie worms bore into the bones of whale carcasses with their specialised root tissues